JANUARY has been a very busy month with a lot of work going on behind the scenes to save our access to the Tonsley rail service. Our parliamentarians have been told that we need a railway station as close as possible to the existing Tonsley Railway station (near Sturt Rd & Birch Cr, Tonsley and at Lynton Ave, Mitchell Park). In 2016-17, residents felt like their individual concerns about Flinders Link were being ignored. This petition, combined with the actions of other residents, such as letters to MPs, letterbox drops, and community discussion, has shown Members of Parliament that the previously ignored individual concerns are shared by the wider community. People are raising their voices to remind decision makers that public transport is important for equity in our society, a fair go for all. THANK YOU again to everyone who has taken the time to sign and support this petition. This petition is in two formats: online right here on Change.org and also on paper for people who do not have computer or internet access. Today, the combined tally of signatures is over 1700! ON 17 JANUARY 2018, a file of online petition signatures was sent to the TRANSPORT MINISTER HON STEPHEN MULLIGHAN MP and the PREMIER JAY WEATHERILL MP. This was brought to the attention of the State Member for Elder, The Federal Member for Boothby, the Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, the Minister for Disabilities, the Shadow Minister for Transport (who is also on the Public Works Committee which endorsed the Flinders Link project) and Hon Kelly Vincent MLC. On the same day, a copy of the correspondence (without the personal petition details) was sent to the Department of Transport’s Flinders Link Project for further discussion of the issues by its Darlington Upgrade Community Liaison Group. Now that South Australia is in election campaign mode, opposition candidates have also taken interest in the plight of Mitchell Park and Tonsley residents. There has been a suggestion of holding a public meeting but I have no confirmed details at this stage. There are still paper petitions in circulation. When the last of those are returned to me or when it has been 90 days of petitioning (19 Feb 2018), whichever comes first, I will send the paper petitions in a single batch; that is, unless Messrs Mullighan & Weatherill request to see them sooner. IMPORTANT: To have the most influence and make your signature count, the petition needs correct postcode and/or suburb details. Our politicians want to know how many signatories are likely to be regular users of the Tonsley rail service and how many are in their electorates. Disappointingly, as I was reviewing the petition to send, I noticed some people had signed with the incorrect postcodes or without a suburb. I am not sure whether this was intentional (to maintain some kind of privacy for example), whether the details were out of date or whether it was an issue in the Change.org petition software. If you live in Mitchell Park or Tonsley, it is especially important that your postcode is correct on the petition. You can check your postcode details in your Change.org profile page: HOW TO EDIT POSTCODE & SUBURB DETAILS 1. Go to the Change.org web site 2. Mouse-click on the round profile picture (it might be a greyed circle) at the top-right of the Change.org screen. A drop-down menu will appear. 3. Select “Profile’ from the menu. Log in to Change.org if prompted. 4. Click on the “Edit profile” button which should appear mid- screen under your name. 5. Now you can enter and edit details into the online form. Please make sure your “Postal code” is correct. Your suburb fits into the "City" box. 6. Click on the red "Save" button at the bottom of the page. A green stripe will appear across the top of the page saying "Your profile was successfully updated". Decision-makers need to know how many supporters are in Mitchell Park and Tonsley as well as those from wider parts of Adelaide; e.g. did you know that Tonsley railway station is used by people who live north of Adelaide who travel south to work in Mitchell Park? The proximity of Tonsley railway station to Sturt Rd is also important. Many people live further away but link to the Tonsley rail line via other rail services, Sturt Rd buses and the southern expressway. If you have any information to share, or need more information about the Save Tonsley Station petition, please EMAIL savetonsleystation@gmail.com Thank you again for your interest and support and a special thanks to fellow residents and Tonsley rail commuters. See you on the train!